Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 02).djvu/143

 call upon the Devil, and they declare that they cause him to appear in a hollow reed, and that there he talks with their priestesses. Their priests are, as a general rule, women, who thus make this invocation and talk with the Devil, and then give the latter's answer to the people—telling them what offerings of birds and other things they must make, according to the request and wish of the Devil. They sacrifice usually a hog and offer it to him, holding many other like superstitions in these invocations, in order that the Devil may come and talk to them in the reed. When any chief dies, they kill some of his slaves, a greater or less number according to his quality and his wealth. They are all buried in coffins made out of two boards, and they bury with them their finest clothes, porcelain ware, and gold jewels. Some are buried in the ground, and others of the chief men are placed in certain lofty houses." Legazpi ordered that in future no slaves be killed at the death of their chiefs, an order which they promised to obey. The natives desired to procure iron in their trading, but Legazpi ordered that none be given them by anyone. However, the trade was continued secretly, the iron being concealed in clothing, even after some of the men had been punished. By various dealings with the natives Legazpi discovered that they were deceiving him in regard to other natives of Cebú and the island of Matan; they had said that these men would make peace and friendship, but they never appeared. The inhabitants of Matan had always been hostile to the Spaniards, "saying that they would kill us, or at least would drive us away by hunger." One